Judy of Casselberry, FL, writes:
An organization of which I was president (Sound of Sunshine Chorus of Sweet Adelines) had purchased 10 cases (120 cans) of Flame Stop, a fire suppressant in August 1998 as a fund raiser. We found out quite by accident approximately 4 months later that it was illegal to sell Flame Stop in Florida because it did not meet the state statutes required for fire extinguishers. Flame Stop had fire extinguisher listed on the can.
In February 1999 I contacted Paul McA of Products Marketing to request a refund plus shipping expenses on the remaining cans of Flame Stop. I had explained that it was illegal to sell Flame Stop in Florida and after sending copies of the Florida State Statues on fire extinguishers Paul told me that California prohibited the sale of Flame Stop also.
Paul had promised on several occasions that he had a buyer for us and then after frequent phone calls to Paul followed by many excuses, the promises went unfulfilled. Eleven months and many excuses later, Vivian L, a local Flame Stop distributor in my hometown, contacted me. She had run into Paul while in Phoenix on business and he told her our dilemma. She was unaware that I had been pursuing this issue for eleven months and stated that her son, a firefighter (not from Florida or California), would purchase 4 cases of the Flame Stop and she would purchase the rest at the same price as sold by the company.
It is now 6 months since my initial conversation with Vivian and the issue has not been resolved. She too has given me many excuses why her son is unable to purchase to Flame Stop at this time. After almost two years since our purchase of Flame Stop, I still have four cases of it in my garage.
The chorus has lost at least $300 not counting the fact that we were unable to use this product as a fund raiser. Shipping was expensive -- $150. I personally lost money on the frequent daytime long distance phone calls to Paul McA at Products Marketing in Phoenix. As president of this organization, I felt a responsibility to get a refund of some monies back to the organization and after nearly a year and a half of my time spent trying to pursue this issue I have been frustrated beyond belief. One would think that a company would research whether it was legal to sell a product in certain states. Several large companies in Central Florida (Goodings, Wal-Mart) sold Flame Stop and received heavy fines. I was going to submit this in December 1999 when Vivian suggested that I wait because she had a solution for our problem. It has been nearly 18 months since I started pursuing a refund and I believe that is more than a reasonable length of time especially without resolution.
We received the following from the real Flame Stop:
Our name is TRADEMARKED and this particular Company took it upon themselves to degrade our name, and now in doing so, we find you too have used our name out of context. We do not and never have manufactured "Flame Stop Fire Extingushers" and have requested the AZ based Company that they be justly renamed. They have done so, we recommend you state that our company and our trademarked name have NO ASSOCIATION to this Fire Extingusher.
Please make the appropriate notation, as we are recieving calls with regard to this posting you have with our trademarked name all over it.
Flame Stop, Inc.
Amy Marie
Office Manager
924 Blue Mound Rd.
Ft Worth, TX 76131
So what does Flame Stop manufacture? According to their Web site, "Flame Stop, Inc manufactures labor-saving passive fire protection systems and fire retardants spray-on applications. Our fire retardants and fire stops are the most 'User-Friendly, Inspector Friendly and Checkbook Friendly' fire protection products on the market today.
